April 3, 2010 - Governor Gary R. Herbert allowed a cigarette tax increase of one dollar ($1) to float across his desk and become law without giving it a yea or nay. Yesterday, March 31st, was the Governor's last opportunity to veto the cigarette tax increase, but instead of doing so he took the passive approach and let the tax increase become law without his action. Herbert has repeatedly said he opposes increasing taxes, but the tobacco tax was built into the budget agreed to by him and legislative leaders.

The Legislature had built the $44 million in anticipated tobacco tax revenue into the budget, and Herbert said a veto would undo that balance. Herbert said in a statement that it would be fiscally irresponsible for him to veto the tobacco tax. He said a veto would create an imbalance in the state budget, particularly in the areas of public and higher education.State lawmakers incorporated the tax into a budget bill that contains many programs that Herbert -- who has pledged not to support any new taxes -- favors. "Politics is the art of compromise," Herbert said. "Public education is my No. 1 priority. Am I going to come down on the side of education or am I going to veto the tobacco tax? I can't do both." Maybe this same approach should be used in South Carolina where Governor Sanford is poised to veto a tobacco tax increase - once again.

A pack of cigarettes will cost $1 more. The tax on cigars will increase from 35 percent to 86 percent of the manufacturer's sale price. And the tax on moist snuff, or dipping tobacco, will rise from 75 cents to $1.83 per ounce.

The court went out of its way in its brief ruling to suggest that the FDA was correct in declaring the product illegal, noting that "appellants [FDA] have satisfied the stringent standards required for a stay pending appeal." These standards require that the party seeking the stay show that it has made a "strong showing that it is likely to prevail on the merits of its appeal" -- in other words, that it is likely correct on the law, and will be the victor when a final decision is announced.

The FDA had warned that e-cig use poses "acute health risks," that "the dangers posed by their toxic chemicals . . . cannot seriously be questioned," and that they have caused a wide variety of potentially serious symptoms "including racing pulse, dizziness, slurred speech, mouth ulcers, heartburn, coughing, diarrhea, and sore throat." (E-cigarettes - scientists want more safety studies before use..FDA had found that samples it tested contained detectable levels of known carcinogens and toxic chemicals to which users could be exposed. The FDA said the toxic chemicals included diethylene glycol, “an ingredient used in antifreeze, [which] is toxic to humans”; “certain tobacco-specific nitrosamines which are human carcinogens”; and that “tobacco-specific impurities suspected of being harmful to humans -- anabasine, myosmine, and B-nicotyrine -- were detected in a majority of the samples tested.” The FDA does not currently monitor or license e-cigs, and indeed considers them "illegal."E-cigarette use is banned in no-smoking areas in New Jersey, Virginia, and Suffolk County, NY, and several states -- as well as a few attorneys general -- are pushing to ban their sale to children or otherwise restrict them. E-cigarettes have already been banned in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Israel, Mexico, Panama, and Singapore, and restricted in Denmark, Finland, Malaysia, Netherlands, and New Zealand, and the UK is poised to begin regulating them as drugs.

At least two attorneys general have filed law suits to stop the sale of e-cigarettes until they are approved by the FDA, they are being challenged in a class action law suit, and a number of states are also considering restrictions on the sale or use of the novel and unregulated products. (e-cigarettes - FDA approval needed prior to marketing..)

April 2, 2010 - The number of New Zealanders lighting up has dropped in the past year, according to new figures. The results of 2009 Tobacco Use Survey, released by the Ministry of Health today, showed the smoking rate for New Zealanders aged between 15 and 64 years was 21.8 per cent, down from 23.9 per cent in 2008. The 2009 youth smoking rate was also lower, at 18 per cent compared to 2008's figure of 20.8 per cent.

Health Ministry acting deputy director-general Ashley Bloomfield said the drop confirmed a downward trend in smoking. "Each one percentage point drop in smoking represents about 30,000 fewer smokers. That's significant because on average half the people who smoke will die from a smoking-related illness," Dr Bloomfield said.

Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) director Ben Youdan welcomed the decline in numbers, but said pressure needed to be maintained to reduce smoking. "This is the biggest drop in smoking rates for a decade. We are seeing that the impact of recent policies such as picture warnings on cigarettes and hard-hitting TV ads have been the kick start we needed to drive down the smoking rates in New Zealand," Mr Youdan said.Youdan: "A smokefree New Zealand by 2020 is in our sights and this could be the start of a landslide of New Zealanders rejecting tobacco. We hope Government seize this as an opportunity to build momentum with strong polices including tax increases on tobacco and banning retail displays."

April 1, 2010 - The Associated Press has found that Philip Morris International (PMI) CEO Louis Camilleri made $24.5 million last year, about 34 percent less than the previous year as the world's second-largest cigarette seller dealt with shrinking sales and profits.

Camilleri's salary fell about 4 percent to $1.5 million, and his performance-based bonus fell 25 percent to $7.6 million. The value of his stock options and stock awards fell about 41 percent to $14.9 million.

Last year the company saw its profit fall 8 percent. It sells Marlboro and other brands overseas.

The AP calculation is based on a regulatory filing. It aims to isolate the value company board place on CEOs' total compensation package. It includes salary, bonus, incentives, perks and the estimated value of stock options and awards.

Camilleri's famous statement: when asked do you advice people not to smoke, he responded: "If they're adults it's up to them." (Financial Times, January 31, 2003)

April 1, 2010 - The Tamil Nadu Voluntary Health Association, a non-governmental organisation, wants new pictorial warnings on cigarette packs to have captions printed in local languages, according to a story on The Hindu Online.

The pictorial warnings were proposed in July 2006 under the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003. The new warnings have been pretested for their effectiveness by the Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI) and the Healis-Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health. (Tobacco warnings go explicit, Savita Verma, New Delhi, India Today, 3/11/2010.)

India makes critical decision on education that will help convince children not to use tobacco. The government on Thursday, April 1st brought into force a new law that makes education free and compulsory for every child from age 6 to 14—the latest government initiative aimed at harnessing the economic potential of its young population. About a third of India's 1.2 billion people are under the age of 14, one of the highest ratios in the world. (Joining hands in the interest of children, Kapil Sibal, The Hindu, 1/31/2010)

April 1, 2010 - Peru's Congress passed today, March 30th the bill that bans smoking at workplaces, entertainment areas and other indoor public spaces. The new law aims to protect citizens against the dangers that cigarette smoke (second hand smoke, SHS, involuntary smoking, sidestream smoke, environmental tobacco smoke, ETS) pose on their health.

The law states that these public places must place in visible spots signs with the warning “Smoking at public places is banned because it is dangerous to health,” and “Place 100% tobacco smoke free.”

The law also obligates companies to include warning phrases and photos regarding the dangers of tobacco smoke on the cigar boxes, specifying also that it is not allowed to sell tobacco to any person under age 18.

Producers, importers and distributors will have 180 days to adapt their products to the specifications stated by this new law, while public places will have 360 days.

In their protest held at Malang city`s town square, one of the students` spokesmen, Ruly, said the anti-smoking edict must be reviewed because it would affect the livelihoods of thousands of people working in the tobacco industry which consisted of small, medium and big enterprises.He said the rally was also held to show to the public that the All-Indonesia Student Executive Board of Muhammadiyah Institutes of Higher Learning (BEM-PTM) opposed the anti-smoking edict, and was asking that it be reconsidered.

The group of tens of BEM-PTM activists rallied at Malang`s city square after a one-km march from the outer compound of the Gajayana Sports Stadium.

On their way to the Merdeka town square, the students carried banners and gave out flyers expressing three aspirations: dismantling of the "neo-liberal" regime, reform of the bureaucracy and the reviewing of the edict against smoking.

In their orations, the demonstrators also demanded firm government action against judicial mafias and the speedy and conclusive settlement of the Bank Century case."If these issues cannot be settled conclusively soon, the people will surely lose all their trust in the government and law enforcement agencies," they said.

April 1, 2010 - President Obama on Wednesday, March 31st signed legislation that bans the U.S. Postal Service from shipping tobacco. The signing successfully ending years of intense lobbying by supporters this important legislation. With the stroke of a pen, President Obama put into law this bill that will go a long way towards combating illegal, online cigarette sales that have robbed states of hundreds of millions of dollars and undermined state laws preventing our youth from gaining access to tobacco products. White House press secretary Robert L. Gibbs announced the signing in a brief statement that included no comment on the new law.

The main goal for passage of the PACT Act: to Protect Our Children - Make it illegal to use the U.S. Postal Service to deliver any form of tobacco product.. FedEx, UPS and DSL — have bowed to state pressure and have refused to ship tobacco products. Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer pressured UPS and DHL Worldwide Express to stop delivering cigarettes to individuals anywhere in the United States in 2005. FedEx agreed to do the same a year later. (Ban tobacco from the mail, Star Bulletin, posted 3/17/2010)

"Enactment of this legislation is a milestone in the fight to keep kids from smoking and prevent tax evasion that costs taxpayers billions each year," said Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.The Act, which takes effect 90 days after the president's signature, will:• Strengthen the Jenkins Act by making it a federal offense for any seller making a tobacco sale via telephone, the mail or the Internet to fail to comply with all state tax laws. State attorneys general can now seek injunctive relief and civil penalties against out-of-state sellers who distribute product to end users in their states.• Require Internet and other remote sellers to verify the purchaser's age and identity through easily accessible databases and the person accepting delivery must verify their age.• Prohibit cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products from being eligible for shipment via the United States Postal Service (USPS).

Effective immediately, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has the authority to inspect distributors of cigarettes and levy a penalty against those who refuse inspection.

April 1, 2010 - The Senate passed a bill raising the state's lowest-in-the-nation 7-cent cigarette tax by 50 cents late Wednesday, March 31st.

South Carolina, a tobacco-raising state, has not raised its cigarette tax since 1977 (when a pack of cigarettes cost an average of 49 cents), and is one of only four states that have not raised the tax since 1999, joining California, Missouri and North Dakota. The average cigarette tax rate in the nation, however, is $1.34 per pack, and the average cigarette tax in the nation's six tobacco-producing states is 40.2 cents per pack.

The bill faces long odds in becoming law and sparing state Medicaid programs from deep cuts. The 26-16 second reading vote came after more than five hours of debate as tax pledge signers repeatedly tried to kill the bill and supporters added an amendment that likely will kill it if Gov. Mark Sanford follows through on a veto threat.

The measure requires a final vote in the Senate and then approval in the House.The Senate voted before heading off for an extended Easter break and won't take up the measure for a third and final reading until April 13, just two days before a big tea party and tax protest rally at the Statehouse.

The proposal would generate $123 million for Medicaid programs, $5 million for efforts to curb smoking and $1.5 million for cancer research. It also sets aside cash for rural infrastructure along the I-95 corridor and money for agriculture marketing.

April 1, 2010 - The aim of the excise duty increase on cigarettes in Bulgaria is mainly to limit smoking, Vanyo Tanov, Director General of Bulgaria’s National Customs Agency has revealed.

Tanov, speaking on Bulgarian National Television (BNT), said that with every increase in excise duty on cigarettes consumption goes down. He continued that as in most European Union (EU) countries the aim of the increase is to reduce consumption, limit smoking and only to some extent to push up budget revenues.

Tanov added that there should not be a shock increase in excise duties on cigarettes and gave the example of Hungary, where last year a shock rise led to the government finally having to remove the increase altogether. He also stated that no one can judge what the proportion of smuggled cigarettes is in Bulgaria.

Under a decision that the Bulgarian Parliament took at the end of November 2009, a BGN 101 (69.71 USD) excise duty for 1000 cigarettes was introduced instead of the previous BGN 41 (28.30 USD), while the proportional tax is 23% of the sales price instead of 40,5%. The latter has mostly affected expensive cigarette brands.Tanov concluded that the Customs Agency has made more money at the start of 2010 than for the same period last year despite the crisis. He however stated that the BGN 72 M (49,696,196.34 USD) decline in VAT in February was due to a drop in fuel imports as the Lukoil refinery was under repair.

March 31, 2010 - Bulgarian smokers will have to swallow a raise in excise duties on cigarettes and their prices as of April 1, as the government struggles to curb smoking and relieve the health care system. The new prices were introduced at the beginning of the year, but the grace period for cigarettes with old excise labels expires on April 1.

Under a decision that the parliament took at the end of November, a BGN 101(69.78 USD) excise duty for 1000 cigarettes is introduced instead of the previous BGN 41 (28.33 USD), while the proportional tax is 23% of the sales price instead of 40,5%. The latter will affect mostly expensive cigarette brands.

The tax for tobacco for pipes and cigarettes is set at BGN 100 (69.09 USD) per kg.

The new duties increase the price of a pack of cigarettes anywhere between BGN 1,10 (0.76 USD) and 1,40 (0.97 USD) making the price of the best-selling “Victory” brand BGN 4,60 (3.18 USD) instead of the current BGN 3,60 (3.18).Opponents to the tax hike claim that it will boost cigarette smuggling and may lead to the bankruptcy of the dominant state cigarette maker Bulgartabak.

March 31, 2010 - Data for pregnant women on the Big Island [Hawaii] suggest about half of the island's 37,892 children under age 18 were exposed before birth to alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use, researchers report. The findings also indicate that of about 2,200 deliveries on the island each year, almost 1,100 infants are born exposed.

Dr. Ira Chasnoff is a professor of clinical pediatrics at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, and president of the Children's Research Triangle in Chicago.A fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Chasnoff is renowned for many years of research on the potential effects of maternal drug use on long-term child development. Dr. Chasnoff is conducting a federally funded project in Hawaii that involves a comprehensive system of screening, assessment and brief intervention for pregnant women from some physicians and public health clinics, including private pay and Medicaid patients. The nonprofit organization is concerned with healthy development of children and families.

Dr. Chasnoff: "Research shows 60 percent of prenatally [before birth] exposed children end up in jail," adding that programs he developed for children in Chicago have significantly reduced that rate.

Their findings are reported in "The First 1,000 Women; Perinatal Substance Use on the Hawaii Island." The rate of cigarette smoking among native Hawaiian women was 43.1 percent, and 64.6 percent continued smoking after learning they were pregnant.Native Hawaiian women had the highest rates of smoking and Caucasian women the highest rates of alcohol and marijuana use in the month before they knew they were pregnant. All groups tended to stop substance use after learning they were pregnant, but 64.6 percent of Hawaiian women continued to smoke and 45 percent of Caucasian women continued to drink alcohol. Substances also were used by 48 percent of the pregnant Asian women, 30 percent of Filipino women and 53 percent of women of mixed race.

Loretta Fuddy, chief of the state Health Department's Family Health Services Division, said Chasnoff's figures are a little higher than the department has seen through its perinatal risk assessment survey. She said the important thing about Chasnoff's work is that he provides a model for intervention by physicians to try to prevent adverse effects. The Health Department has a perinatal network and provides funding to community health centers to screen high risk women for alcohol, smoking, illicit drug use and domestic violence, she said. The agency also is working with the child welfare system to provide early intervention services for children under age 3, Fuddy said.

Martin Orlowsky, chairman, president and CEO of Lorillard, writing in the Wall Street Journal’s Opinion Journal, said that menthol cigarettes were clearly not associated with higher youth smoking rates, one of the arguments put forward for a ban that was brought in last year on other ‘characterizing’ cigarette flavors.

March 31, 2010 - Lorillard Tobacco Company today issued the following statement regarding the Food and Drug Administration's Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) which is holding its first public meeting this week. This statement can be attributed to Dr. Bill True, Senior Vice President.

"The FDA's scientific advisory committee will be looking at many aspects of regulation but one major challenge will be for committee members to remain focused on an objective analysis of the science surrounding menthol.

"Menthol, obviously, has been used for decades in food, drink, cosmetics and other products. And the science is clear and compelling that there is no differing health risk between menthol and non-menthol products.

"With respect to public health, using the best methods available to science, it is clear a menthol cigarette is just another cigarette and should be treated no differently."

March 31, 2010 - Gudang Garam reported 2009 net profit jumped 84 percent to 3.46 trillion rupiah ($380.8 million), from 1.88 trillion rupiah in 2008 ($1 = 9,085 rupiah). Gudang Garam (Indonesian for "salt warehouse") is a major Indonesian kretek (clove cigarette) manufacturer. It was founded on 26 June 1958 by Tjoa Ing Hwie, who changed his name to Surya Wonowidjojo. In 1984, control of the company was passed to Wonowidjojo's son, Rachman Halim, who subsequently became the richest man in Indonesia. Halim headed the company until his death in 2008.

The market for tobacco in Indonesia increased at a compound annual growth rate of 6.2% between 2003 and 2008. The cigarette industry has faced dropping revenues in many counties BUT NOT INDONESIA due to numerous strict anti-smoking policies, constantly growing prices and public health concerns. PT HM Sampoerna, which has a 29 percent market share, dethroned Gudang Garam to become Indonesia’s largest cigarette-maker in 2006, a year after Philip Morris acquired the company. Gudang Garam controls 26.5 percent of the market, down from 36 percent in 1999. Tobacco in Indonesia to 2013, Datamonitor, 8/2009.In countries including Indonesia, Bangladesh, Mexico and Egypt, very poor households spend up to 15% of their incomes on tobacco products, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). That exacerbates social and health inequalities and can push families even deeper into poverty, because they are more likely to develop smoking-related illnesses and die than wealthier compatriots. About 1.2 million of the five million tobacco-related deaths annually are in south-east Asia, where almost half the world's poor live. Some of them spend more on tobacco than on food, shelter, healthcare and education. (Developing world faces black market cigarette plague, Denis Campbell, health correspondent, 6/28/2009)

March 30, 2010 - A study by a Dutch research firm has found popular cigarette using pig's blood to filter the harmful chemicals normally ingested by humans when smoking.

WHY HEMOGLOBIN? Because of its natural ability for bonding and neutralizing a variety of compounds.

It was found that pig hemoglobin - a blood protein - was being used to make cigarette filters more effective at trapping harmful chemicals before they could enter a smoker's lungs.

The basic structure of this new CHOICE FILTER is similar to that of any carbon based cigarette filter, but contains hemoglobin absorbed in the activated carbon (the hemoglobin used in the new CHOICE FILTER is certified for food and pharmaceutical use). These two substances in combination work as a highly efficient scavenger of the harmful gas compounds present in cigarette smoke. (smoking and the choice filter.)

The Jewish and Muslim community refrain from pork consumption due to religious beliefs, and the same can be said about a large majority of vegetarians too who practice the diet because of strict religious beliefs.

Click to enlarge.. March 30, 2010 - The smoking lamp will soon be out aboard all subs, according to the Navy’s top officer. “We’re going to stop smoking on submarines,” Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Gary Roughead told Navy Times on March 23.

The move is not yet official, so Lt. Cmdr. Mark Jones, a spokesman for Submarine Force, would say only that Vice Adm. John Donnelly “is examining the options of changing the policy of smoking in a submarine to improve the overall health of the entire crew.” Jones would not speculate on when a decision will be made, but a final order likely will come soon. The catalyst for change is the effect of second-hand smoke (shs, passive smoking, sidestream, involuntary, environmental tobacco smoke, ETS), on crew members who remain submerged for months at a time.

“That atmosphere moves around the submarine,” Roughead said. “You don’t smell it, but the damaging things from the smoke are still present.”

Click to enlarge..March 30, 2010 - Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced today that the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR) will pay the state $150,000 to settle his lawsuit alleging a 2007 Camel advertising spread in Rolling Stone magazine used cartoons in violation of the master tobacco settlement.

The company also agreed to end its “The Farm: Free Range Music” campaign, which Blumenthal alleged in his December 2007 lawsuit violated the tobacco agreement’s ban on cartoons in cigarette advertising. The agreement prohibits cartoons and because they entice children and teenagers to smoke.“This settlement plows under R. J. Reynolds’ (RJR) ‘The Farm’ campaign, which we charged flagrantly violated the ban on marketing cigarettes with cartoons,” Blumenthal said. “This campaign improperly employed cartoons to sell cigarettes, enticing kids into addiction, illness and early death. These ads hark back to the insidious and disingenuous ‘Joe Camel,’ the cute and cool cartoon character designed to appeal to kids. Like ‘Joe Camel,’ this campaign used cartoons to make smoking appear ‘cool’ and desirable. The truth: cigarettes are uncool and deadly.

“Big Tobacco must absolutely adhere to the settlement, especially the vital ban on marketing to children. I will continue to vigorously and vigilantly enforce the tobacco settlement to safeguard the public -- especially children -- from the deadly ravages of smoking.”

The ad spread, which included a four-page fold out poster, appeared in the 40th anniversary edition of Rolling Stone dated November 15, 2007. RJR denied that the ad campaign violated the agreement and made the payment to cover the state’s legal costs.